Railway car truck



C. D. BARRETT ETAL Mmh 1s, 1947.

RAILWAY GAR TnUcx lFiled Dec. 8, 1944 INVENTORS. D arrei ATTORNYS.

Patented Mu. is, 1941 RAILWAY CAR TRUCK charles D. nim-ett ma charles n. Whitehead. Altoona, Pa.

Application December 8,l 1944, Serial No. 567.166

2 Claims. (Cl. 10S-'197) This invention relates to railway car trucks of a type in which the bolster is yieldingly supported by helical springs with capacity for limited lateral motion. The operation of such trucks at high speeds is invariably attended by the building up of lateral oscillations of the bolsters and consequent excessive swaying ofV the car bodies. y

The chief aim of our invention is to obviate the above drawbacks, which desideratum is realized in practice as hereinafter more fully set forth, through provision of a simple and reliable means whereby the lateral movements of vthe bolsters are effectively dampened in such a manner as to preclude excessive oscillation and thus improve the riding qualities of the trucks.

A. further aim of our invention is to attain the aforementioned advantages in a restraining means which can be readily applied to existent car trucks without requiring any alteration whatever in them and without interfering with their normal mode of operation.

In the drawings;

Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view of a railway car truck conveniently embodying the present improvements.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken as indicated by the angled arrows II-lI in Fig. 1 with the mid-portion of the truck bolster broken out to expose the restraining means; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail View in section taken as indicated by the angled arrows III-III in Fig. 1.

The truck partially delineated in these illus- 'trations for' the purpose of exemplifying our invention is generally ci the construction .disclosed in U. S. Patent #2,287,963, granted to us on June 30, 1942, wherein the bolster 5 is hollow with its ends extending into the guide windows 6 and 'I of the side frames 8 and 9 and therein sup ported by groups of vertical axis helical springs III and Il, said springs resting on the spring plank I2 which connects said side frames. Additional cushioning is afforded by pairs of semielliptic springs I5 and It located within the hollow of the bolster 5. As shown, the center straps I1 and II of the springs I5 and Il have spherical contact at their tops with the vupper web o! the bolster 5, while their inner ends slidingly engage 'o'undedsupports Il and 2t within the bolster hollow. Theouter ends of the springs I5 and I6,` on the other band, are enlaged in recessed cap pieces 2I and 22 at the tops of rockers 23 and 24 respectively disposed in the midst of the helical ends fulcrumed on the spring plank I2. Adjacent its ends and at opposite sides thereof, the bolster 5 is provided with pairs of spaced lugs I3 and I4, which, by cooperation with the side frames 8 and 9, limit lateral motion incident to sidewise flexure of the springs III and II.

The vibration restraining means with which the present invention is more particularly concerned includes a leaf spring which is longitudinally arranged v.in the interval between the bolster 5 and the spring plank I2. From Fig. 1 it will be noted that the spring 25 bears directly against the bottom web of the bolster at the center and that its ends are upwardly rounded as at 26, 21 and engaged within'crosswise-disposed hold-down strap elements 28, 29 upstanding from the spring plank I2 with interposition of renewable Wear plates 0 and 3| upon which they frictionally bear. The hold-down elements 28 and 28 may be in the form of U bolts with their eX- g tremities passing down through the wear plates 30 and iii respectively and being suitably anchored in apertures in the spring plank I2. Thus through frictional action of the spring 25 with the spring plank I2 and the bolster 5, swaying of the latter` is eifectively controlled and excessive vibration thereof prevented, the elements 28 and 2@ serving as retaining devices to hold said spring in place. If desired or required, a multiple leaf spring. may be substituted for the spring 25 depending on'the styles or carrying capacities of the trucks with which the vibration restraining means is to be used. In trucks where our restraining spring is employed, we preferably space the lugs I3 and I4 (Fig. 2.) somewhat Ifur-- ther apart than. ordinarilyl in order to correspondingly yincrease the permissible lateral motion of the bolster.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a railway car truck having a pair of side frames rigidly connected by'a transverse member, a resiliently-supported bolster with its ends extending through vertical guideways in said frames, and a leaf spring with its mid portion bearing upward against the bottom of the bolster, and its ends slidably bearing downward against the top of the aforesaid transverse connecting member; wear-taking and hold down means for the spring ends including wear plates interposed between them and the connecting member and ilxed to the latter and strap elements` extending crosswise over them and secured to saidconnecting member.

v2. The invention according to claim 1, in

spring groups Il and II and having their lower which the ends of the lea! spring are upwardly 3 curved. and in which the strap elements are in the form of U bolts with their ends passing down through the respective wear Plates and anchmd Nullnllegav in the transverse connecting membel- 318'640 CHARLES D. BARRETT. v 5 1 295.634 CHARLES R. WHITEHEAD. 1'550'307 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the nie of this patent: 0 

